Environmental sciences

Declines in migratory bird populations have been linked to a range of complex environmental factors, including the dramatic increase in application of neurotoxic neonicotinoid insecticides in recent decades. Neonicotinoids are used as seed treatments in a wide variety of Canadian crops, and consumption of treated seeds could result in poor navigation and migration delays in migratory birds. However, the influence of insecticides on cognition and patterns of movement is poorly understood.

In the summer of 2017, GM of Canada will be launching several employee engagement campaigns pertaining to sustainability goals. This project will determine how the control of different variables could lead to more or less employee engagement. These variables include the communication medium, the reward mechanism, and the depth of technical detail. By better understanding of what communication practices lead to effective employee engagement, GM can better tailor future sustainability campaigns to bring about larger impact.

Yukon Energy Corporation (YEC) began generating hydro-electricity at the Aishihik Hydro Facility, situated within Champagne and Aishihik First Nations (CAFN) Traditional Territory, Yukon, in 1975. Their continuing water use license will expire in 2019. Notwithstanding the Aishihik facilitys 41 years of energy production, CAFN has repeatedly expressed social and environmental concerns associated with the facility's operation.

Reports of air monitoring since 1994 show the annual average PM2.5 concentration in the Prince George airshed is one of the highest in the province. Although a large effort is underway to monitor ambient levels of PM2.5 , there has been no systematic study on personal exposure at the neighborhood level. Furthermore, there are no data on chemical composition (in particular elemental analysis) of PM2.5 in the neighborhoods.

Ecomuseums are primarily community-based endeavors that respond to local needs while concentrating on sustainability. They help guide and develop democratic projects that focus on connections to local history and heritage, which include local physical geographic features, natural resources, natural habitats and agricultural practices. This research concentrates on three case studies in southern Saskatchewan to study ecomuseum citizen participation and governance. Three unique ecomuseums are used as case studies.

Golf courses represent a unique opportunity for urban foresters to promote an increased quality and quantity of trees in the city environment. Golf course managers focus attention mainly on grass maintenance and less so on trees. The tree canopy at Old Ashburn Golf Course is currently in a degraded state. Taking advantage of a forthcoming major course upgrade project on the greens, the intern will (a) characterize the current state of the trees on the course, and (b) develop management proposals for the long-term improvement of the courses tree canopy.

To achieve the goal of commercializing striped bass aquaculture in Nova Scotia, the obstacle of high (up to 100%) overwinter mortality among young-of-year fish needs to be overcome. Mortality is restricted to fish that are under one year old (underyearlings, 500g) suffer negligible mortality. Potential factors for such low survival rates identified through four years of trials by researchers from Dalhousie include low oxygen levels and exhaustion of lipid energy reserves.

Human influence on current climate change is now unequivocal. The rate of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continues to increase, and climate models and observations show that climate changes are accelerating in response to these emissions. In this context, the rate of the current climate change strongly modifies the frequency and the intensity of extreme events, such as droughts, heat waves or extreme precipitation. Strong rates of GHG emissions can cause a destabilization of a component of the climate system (e.g.

In water quality management, mathematical models are used to understand ecological processes, to predict aquatic ecosystem dynamics, to evaluate management alternatives/climatic scenarios, and to support the policy making process. Environmental models involve substantial uncertainty due to their structure, unknown parameters, and errors associated with calibration data and other inputs. This research program aims to address the urgent need for credible modelling tools by combining environmental mathematical modelling with Bayesian analysis.

Understanding and measuring nitrogen supply in agricultural soils is a critical component in managing groundwater quality and minimizing impacts on the environment. Degraded water quality, primarily as nitrate contamination, is a growing concern in Atlantic Canada and agricultural fields are potential point sources. This project proposes to develop a baseline dataset from agricultural fields across Nova Scotia toward developing a soil nitrogen supply index that will help producers make better crop fertilization decisions.